Scarborough are the new holders of the British Schools Orienteering Championships sixth-form college title after finally ending York's seven-year reign.

The York college's dominance of the Sixth Form/Tertiary event came to an end at Cannock Chase in Staffordshire when they finished in third place behind winners Scarborough and runners-up Brockenhurst, from Hampshire.

Scarborough and former York Sixth Form coach Steve Whitehead, now in his third year as head of geology at the college, saw his hard work pay off as his relatively inexperienced team went one better than last year when they were beaten into second place by York.

The team of Martyn Sparkes, Phil Taylor, Becky Wilson and David Kitson all finished in the top 20 in the Under-19 class.

Whitehead, father of England orienteering star Jenny Whitehead, said: "The team has trained hard and deserved this success."

But there was fighting talk from the York team after losing their grip on the trophy.

Coach Helen Gardner said: "We are determined to regain the trophy next year - it's just on a very temporary loan to Scarborough."

More than 1,400 competitors from schools all over Great Britain and Northern Ireland took part in the championships, with North Yorkshire youngsters bringing back two trophies and six other top three positions.

The best individual performance came from York Under-16 star Matthew Speake who won the Boys' Year 11 title for Joseph Rowntree School.

In the same race, Archbishop Holgate pupils Jonathan Kendall and Tim Bean were fourth and sixth respectively while Daniel Adams of Boroughbridge was eighth and James Ellwood of Scalby School, Scarborough, 11th.

There were a number of other top 10 finishes for North Yorkshire pupils. In the Girls' Year 11 event Boroughbridge's Jo Willis was second and Woldgate's Heather Gardner third, while Ripon Grammar School's Liz Day was second in the Year 13 race.

In the Girls' Year 12 race, Catherine Sales of York Sixth Form College finished ninth.

Shaun Adams of Boroughbridge took second place in the Boys' Year 7 and Matthew Morton of Archbishop Holgate finished seventh.

Russell Ellwood of Scalby School, Scarborough, came eighth in the Boys' Year 11 race.

Archbishop Holgate School, from York, just missed out on the U-16 boys' trophy. The team of Jonathon Kendall (4th), Tim Bean (6th) and Michael Hitchins were just beaten into second place.

With excellent support, particularly from Matthew Morton who was seventh in the U-12s, the school also finished second in the 11-16 category.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.